This invention relates to a slitter-rewinder machine for slitting and rewinding webs of flexible sheet material such as paper, plastic, foil laminates, and the like and more particularly to a rewind apparatus for winding the split strips on individual cores which cores are both controllably driven to provide controlled center wind tension, and also controllably pressed against the web winding drum for maximum uniformity and smoothness of rolls. Such a machine is U.S. Pat. No. 3,122,335 to Dusenbery et al.
In machines of the class to which this invention relates a web of flexible material is unwound from a supply roll and split longitudinally thereof in a plurality of ribbons of desired width, which ribbons are rewound upon individual cores. Since it is virtually impossible to rewind the individual ribbons on adjacent and abutting cores due to interleaving of the adjoining ribbons, the ribbons are separated before being rewound upon the respective cores, or rewind mandrels. Due to an undesired but generally unavoidable nonconformity of thickness across the web being slit, the individual rewind mandrels may be increased in diameter at varying rates and, for this reason, rewind mandrels which are individually supported are preferably employed for proper rewinding of the slit strips.
The prior art discloses rewind mandrels which are rotated by a motorized belt drive assembly. The tension of this belt requires repeated adjustment and repositioning depending on the diameter of the rewind mandrel to be used. The manner for adjusting tension disclosed in the prior art is time consuming. The prior art method of tension adjustment comprises: a motor, a drive belt, a tension bar having alignment slots and being secured to an inner wall of the machine, a idler roll attached to the tension bar, two sets of positioning holes, and a conventional means of anchoring the tension bar.
When a rewind mandrel shaft of a different diameter than the shaft currently in use is desired, the steps involved in adjusting the tension on the belt drive assembly are as follows: the operator must shut off the machine, remove the side panel, loosen the anchoring means of the tension bar to relieve belt tension, fully remove the tension bar from one set of positioning holes, and reposition the tension bar over a new set of positioning holes, attach the tension bar using the same anchoring means, apply external pressure to the belt, and move the tension bar into position, fully secure the tension bar in its new position, replace the side panel and reactivate the machine.